1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand towels, and particularly to a fish-shaped hand towel useful for sports fishermen, or for restaurant personnel in the seafood industry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sports fishermen have occasion to get their hands soiled or wet while handling bait or when reeling in their catch. It is frequently inconvenient to interrupt their fishing activities to go to a storage locker to retrieve a towel to wipe their hands on. Consequently, the fisherman faces the choice of wiping his soiled or wet hands on his clothing, or waiting for the moisture to evaporate. There is, therefore, a need for a hand towel which is readily available to the fisherman about his person or at hand on his boat for quickly wiping water and dirt from his hands.
Similarly, restaurant personnel, particularly waitresses, bartenders, busboys, etc. in seafood establishments, find that their hands become contaminated with liquids, grease, and assorted food products. In food service establishments it is particularly a matter of concern to maintain clean hands. It would be desirable to have a hand towel readily available about the person of such food establishment employees which would permit their hands to be kept free for carrying dishes, plates, and other eating utensils, while blending in with the motif and ambiance of the establishment.
Various improvements in towels generally, and hand towels in particular, have been the subject of prior patents. U.S. Design Pat. No. 339,951, issued Oct. 5, 1993 to Parkinson et al., shows a towel with a pocket having a continuous loop of fixed diameter attached at one corner of the towel. U.S. Design Pat. No. 347,542, issued Jun. 7, 1994 to J. M. Sheppard, Jr., shows a towel with a continuous loop strap hold the base of a snap hook fastener. U.S. Design Pat. No. 377,131, issued Jan. 7, 1997 to R. E. Davis, shows a sportsman's towel having an inside pocket and a horizontally oriented continuous loop for attaching the towel about the sportsman's waist.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 380,119, issued Jun. 24, 1997 to R. E. Gonzalez, shows an exercise towel having a paddle shape and a pocket. U.S. Design Pat. No. 390,403, issued Feb. 10, 1998 to Pirraglia et al., shows a bath towel in the shape of an angel. U.S. Design Pat. No. 398,805, issued Sep. 29, 1998 to P. H. Sigmon, shows a towel with an edge folded over to form an elongated loop for hanging from a belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,712, issued Sep. 30, 1980 to Black et al. describes a towel which may be hung from the waistband which is formed from a main body and three equally spaced tabs along the top edge of the main body, the towel being folded to form a pleat, the side tabs being folded behind the center tab in overlapping fashion and sewn together. The tab may be tucked inside the waistband.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,187, issued Dec. 1, 1981 to C. Berman, discloses an accessory to be worn with tight jeans, which includes a base panel with multiple pockets having spaced apart belt loops which close by snap fasteners along the top edge of the panel, and a tie string extending through a loop at the bottom of the panel for fastening around the thigh. The tie string may be replaced by a flexible band fastened either with snaps, or with hook and loop fasteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,253, issued Mar. 20, 1984 to D. W. Kinnear, teaches a towel for fishermen prepared by impregnating a towel with anise extract. The fisherman wipes his hands on the towel before handling bait. The odor of the anise extract masks the human odor on the bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,414, issued Dec. 13, 1994 to Lamonakis et al., shows a towel holder made from a water repellant fabric having a bell shape to cover towels and protect them from moisture from rain or snow until use. The holder is doubled over the ring portion of a shower curtain ring and secured by a grommet placed through the center of the ring and the two layers of the holder. The towels are also shown having a grommet attached to the projecting portion of the ring.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a hand towel solving the aforementioned problems is desired.